South Korea to introduce a bill to protect the housing rights of people who have been victims of multi-million-dollar fraud involving home rental schemes, as the repercussions of the crisis continue to mount.

Park Dae-chul, chief policy maker for South Korea’s ruling People Power Party, said in a televised briefing on Sunday that the ruling party and government ministries will introduce the bill next week, according to Bloomberg News.

Chul added that the bill will include an option for the state-owned Korea Land and Housing Corporation to purchase the affected properties and convert them into public rental housing.

The crisis stemmed from the traditional rent payment system, in which tenants pay at least half the property’s value upfront and get their money back at the end of the lease term, rather than paying monthly rent.

This system frees up funds for property owners to invest or purchase additional homes.

In suspected cases of fraud, property owners failed to return the money to tenants.

The scams have led to suicides among tenants who went bankrupt and prompted police investigations.

Police said last week that more than 1,700 tenants lost an estimated 309.9 billion (233 million dollars), and that about half of the victims are in their 20s and 30s.

Park said the party and the government would also grant affected tenants a preferential right to purchase the property and would seek to amend a separate law to add “stricter penalties for specific crimes” related to rental fraud.

The government estimates that 2,500 homes were affected by the fraud, with tenants not having been reimbursed for their security deposits.